Ruff
Calidris pugnax
A bizarre and unique shorebird. Medium-sized with fairly short, slightly drooped bill. Leg color varies from dull greenish to bright orange; bill can be entirely dark or mostly orange. Plumage highly variable, especially breeding males, which have fancy neck ruffs that can be black, white, buffy, reddish-brown, or any combination thereof. Females and nonbreeding birds can be confusing, usually plain grayish-brown overall, sometimes with blotchy markings on the neck and belly. Juveniles are bright buffy with neat scaly patterning on the upperparts. Flight often rather lazy, with deep floppy wingbeats; note white underwings, white sides to rump, and feet projecting well past tail. Males are much larger than females. Breeds in bogs and wet grassy meadows across northern Eurasia; winters mainly in Africa but also across India and Southeast Asia. Migrants occur in almost any wetland habitat, from reservoirs and fields to coastal mudflats. Feeds by probing and picking, often while in shallow water. Rare but regular vagrant to North America, usually single birds found among flocks of yellowlegs.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Calidris pugnax
- Authority
- (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Order
- Charadriiformes
- Family
- Scolopacidae
- Genus
- Calidris
Range and habitat
- Breeding range
- PAL : low Arctic to temperate tundra and steppe of Palearctic: nw Europe from Belgium and Scandinavia s through n Ukraine, nw Kazakhstan, n Mongolia to far e Siberia
- Non-breeding range
- AF, sw PAL, India : inland and coastal c, s Europe, Africa, Middle East, Indian subcontinent, se Asia, Philippines, ec China, Taiwan and c to s Japan; rarer Indonesian Arch.
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch
Leucosticte tephrocotis
The most widespread rosy-finch. Body is the color of milk chocolate. Look for pink highlights in the wings, tail and belly. Several different populations; some have gray wrapping around the back of the head only above the eye, others have entirely gray cheek. Breeds at the highest elevations; descends to lower elevations in winter. Often in mixed flocks in winter with other rosy-finches. Feeds on seeds and insects. Look for them foraging on alpine snowfields. Visits feeders, primarily in winter.
Bearded Wood-Partridge
Dendrortyx barbatus
Very elusive, chickenlike bird of humid evergreen forest in foothills and highlands; scarce and very local in eastern Mexico where it is endemic. Usually in pairs or small groups on the forest floor. May be seen beside quiet trails and roads early and late in the day; runs away quickly and rarely flies. Note the blue-gray face and throat, red bill and eyering, and rusty breast. Loud rollicking songs are given mainly early and late in the day and most often reveal its presence.
Orange-spotted Bulbul
Pycnonotus bimaculatus
Attractive bulbul of foothill and montane forest edges and clearings. Endemic to Sumatra, Java, and Bali; introduced to Lombok. Brown above and white below, with bright orange patches on the face and a golden-yellowish tinge to the wings and cheeks. Also note the weak crest, which is not always raised. Generally unmistakable in its range; only confusion species is Aceh Bulbul, but note present species’ pale belly and range differences. Often gathers at fruiting trees. Call is a hard, decisive-sounding “tjik”, often given in series. Song is a bubbly series of bright fluid notes, often given with a somewhat hesitant quality.
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